BJP ‘virtually rejected’ in 4 of 5 states: Capt Amarinder

Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday said his party “gracefully” accepts the people’s verdict in the assembly polls but took a dig at BJP’s performance claiming it has been “virtually rejected” in four of the five states.

Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday said his party “gracefully” accepts the people’s verdict in the assembly polls but took a dig at BJP’s performance claiming it has been “virtually rejected” in four of the five states.

He wondered as to what was BJP gloating about “as it has virtually been rejected in four out of the five states, while Congress has retained a respectable position and vote share in all the states that went to the polls.”

Asserting that the BJP may have won in Assam, Amarinder said it had yet to make any “significant presence” in the states like West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

BJP should be content being a “North-Western sectarian party which can never dream of having an all India presence like the Congress,” the former Punjab chief minister said in a statement.

“Winning or not winning doesn’t matter, what matters is participation and performance and the overall performance of our party has not been bad,” Amarinder, who is also the deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, said in a statement.

He pointed out that Congress has retained number two position in three states and formed the government in Puducherry.

“Congress may be down, but it is certainly not out,” he said, adding, the party has emerged as the main opposition in three states of West Bengal, Assam and Kerala.

Besides, Amarinder said, in Assam it was the “anti-incumbency” of 15 years.